Do Players See Where I place Encounter Tokens "Live"?

[Mytherus]

I have a game in an hour so if I don't get an answer by then I'll wing it. However, I have a massive battle to the point I have to separate enemies in "phases" . Meaning phase 1 is preset already so that's fine. Phase 2 I can't preset, because the position and more important WHICH mobs appear depends on the actions of the players. Which mean during the session I'm gonna have say "Sorry guys one second as I do this" kind of deal and then drag out and place the tokens on the map.

The question is how can I do this WHILE the players are logged in and probably looking at their screens WITHOUT me giving away the tokens to them?

Thanks.

(I hope I explained it clear)

[LordEntrails]

Yes they do (I've made this 'mistake' more tan once). In your situation what I do is preplace the tokens on the edge of the map, in a part that will be hidden by mask or LOS.

Then when you add te encounter to the map and CT, move the tokens before you change them to visible.

[Mytherus]

Yes they do (I've made this 'mistake' more tan once). In your situation what I do is preplace the tokens on the edge of the map, in a part that will be hidden by mask or LOS.

Then when you add te encounter to the map and CT, move the tokens before you change them to visible.

Thanks for tip worked pretty good. We had a fun session just didn’t have time to post before the game ended.

[LordEntrails]

Not a problem, glad it worked for you :)

I added an request to the Wish List: https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/fgapp?ia=139147

[MartianXi]

This has been an issue for me a number of times... In my 5e Campaign, When trying to create an encounter on the fly during a session, my players can see everything as I'm placing tokens... they disappear once the encounter window is closed but by then it's too late.

As a quick workaround I can see setting them off to the side working but it seems odd that they are visible regardless of the map settings.

I'd also like to see an option within the encounter tab to show or hide the npc's when they hit the tracker similar to the hostile/faction button or ID.

Example, I had a recent session where an army of animated armours were moving towards the group, 30 in total. Running 30 different npc's is hard enough but having to sort through them all in the tracker one by one to make sure the right ones are visible.

[Zacchaeus]

If you need to add things on the fly don’t make an encounter. Just drag one into the CT then duplicate them by drag dropping it back onto the CT until you have the correct number, and drag into the map.

[Griogre]

The other option is to make the encounter like you are doing but - *don't* place the tokens in the encounter on the map. Just add the encounter to the tracker, then when they come up in initiative order place them. They will be hidden until you unhide them. If you are doing fairly large scale encounters you might find it easier to have the armor split up in seperate groups so they have different initiatives.

IE in the example picture, I made four small groups in an encounter then added them to the tracker. Then, in say an ambush situation, I could put the 1st to the North, 2nd to the South, 3rd to the East and 4th to the West. Note how by separating them by name I can tell at a glance what area they are suppose to be so when they come up in initiative I can place them where they should go according to the encounter or just make them separate waves or whatever is appropriate.

[MarvinXi]

The other option is to make the encounter like you are doing but - *don't* place the tokens in the encounter on the map. Just add the encounter to the tracker, then when they come up in initiative order place them. They will be hidden until you unhide them. If you are doing fairly large scale encounters you might find it easier to have the armor split up in seperate groups so they have different initiatives.

IE in the example picture, I made four small groups in an encounter then added them to the tracker. Then, in say an ambush situation, I could put the 1st to the North, 2nd to the South, 3rd to the East and 4th to the West. Note how by separating them by name I can tell at a glance what area they are suppose to be so when they come up in initiative I can place them where they should go according to the encounter or just make them separate waves or whatever is appropriate.

I ended up breaking them up into 6 groups and had each group on their own initiative. I’d built one encounter and kept adding it to the tracker to build up the numbers to 30.
It slowed combat quite a bit though to manually place each token from the tracker and adjust all their initiatives.
Fortunately my players were quite patient while I got my ducks in a row.

I had a similar issues earlier in the campaign with a number of Ixitxachitl which appeared on the map before they should have.

[Zacchaeus]

I ended up breaking them up into 6 groups and had each group on their own initiative. I’d built one encounter and kept adding it to the tracker to build up the numbers to 30.
It slowed combat quite a bit though to manually place each token from the tracker and adjust all their initiatives.
Fortunately my players were quite patient while I got my ducks in a row.

I had a similar issues earlier in the campaign with a number of Ixitxachitl which appeared on the map before they should have.

For something like this I'd prepare each encounter in advance, pre-placed on the map. Then I'd switch on automatic initiative so that when the encounter is placed the new NPCs get an initiative added to the CT. Each encounter can therefore be added seamlessly when you require it without any interruption to place tokens.

And welcome to the forums.

[MartianXi]

I have a massive battle coming up tonight and I've been trying to setup my map. I'm curious though about adding NPC tokens to the map and whether or not my players can see them.

I'm running the Battle for Blingdenstone, which involves a massive cavern full of various oozes. There are a few encounters I've built for the players, who are ideally going avoid the larger collection of oozes, which are distracted and fighting with other factions while the players attempt to sneak through and find the big bad.

I've been populating the map with NPC tokens, and instead of putting them in an encounter, I've just been dragging the tokens on to the map, but looking at the player preview screen, it seems that they are all visible despite line of sight. I can't tell if this is just a DM view thing or if my players will be able to see everything before they get there.

If this is the case, how do I add a bunch of NPC tokens, without cluttering up my combat tracker. They are just meant for cosmetic effect.

[Zacchaeus]

Unless you add tokens from the Combat Tracker then it's just a token on the map. Everyone can see them and everyone can interact with them.

For what you are trying to do your best plan is to have the massive combat 'off camera' and just have the PCs fight whoever you want them to fight. You don't need to represent the 'off screen' fighting with tokens. Just every so often describe what's going on outside of what the PCs are doing. If you want them to sneak through the fighting do it via 'Theatre of the Mind'; maybe roll some dice every so often to heighten the suspense. Maybe even add in a random encounter with some oozes. But basically concentrate on what the PCs are doing and just (dramatically) describe what else is going on.

[LordEntrails]

If you add tokens from anywhere except Encounters or the Combat Tracker, they will not be linked to an NPC, plus you will not easily be able to control their visibility.

[EllivasKram]

Have a look at this EXTN : https://forge.fantasygrounds.com/shop/items/337/view

Situational Awareness

Description
Situational Awareness allows you to pre-load all your encounters and only see the ones that are "active". This will let you visually see all the other encounters in the area and if necessary pull them into the CT. Previously you would have to look at each room's description and possible look at encounter links as well.

[Max Silver]

If you have a big battle with a bunch of hidden, or not used until wave-x, monsters, you can also leave those units hidden and use the "Turn: Skip Hidden Actor" function in the options, under Combat. Worked handily for me before when we had a kind of run-n-gun endurance thing where they were running out of a dungeon to escape BBEG.

[bmos]

If you launch another copy of FG, you can connect to yourself (the ip address is "localhost") and see how it works for players